Guessing Game

Another ABC Blog Hop takes place on this Saturday (and beyond). We're already up to letter E. Can you guess what  E stands for just by looking at this picture? 

Anything is Possible

Now that I'm back from the Close To My Heart convention, I'm cutting and gluing again.

OK ... I wasn't physically at the convention but my heart was there!!  It was actually fun to stay home and watch the updates roll in with my CTMH Facebook friends. 

Of course, that's called "making the most of things".  Even when the BEST isn't happening we should always be looking for something spectacular.  They say "bloom where you are planted". TRUE.

  I like to bloom AND grow. This week I tried a color combination that would have been easy for me to reject. It didn't really inspire me at first, but I pressed through and I love the results. What do you think?

A better way to state this sentiment is  ...  Luke 1:37   For nothing is impossible with God.

It's so exciting to see all that you can do with paper, but nothing comes close to actually doing it!!  I turned to my favorite new form of inspiration ... challenge blogs. I'm REALLY into using scraps these days so this sketch from Operation Write Home was perfect. In order to step outside of my box I tried a color challenge too. There are so many, but the one at CR84FN58 caught my eye. NOT because it was my favorite colors, but it really was waaaaaaay outside of my color box.

Mission Accomplished

At the beginning of June I set out to feature a different Close To My Heart stamp set every day in honor of Stampaganza. I missed one day ... but I'm ok with it because on some days I featured more than one stamp set. I'm not gonna lie. This wasn't easy. I was tempted to call it quits.  BUT today I'm here to finish strong. I like to think of this last post as the Grand Finale ... like when you go to a fireworks show. I used Remarkable Wreath to make 8 different cards. This is my first time using it. It was fun to try out a variety of combos. AND I used every stamp in the set except the little bow.  I'd rather use real bows.

I used this week's Operation Write Home sketch (with a bit of a diversion on the ribbon - that's how I roll). Since CTMH paper is double sided this was the perfect sketch. I cut a base piece the size of the card & then sliced an inch off of the side and turned it over. The cutting and pasting part of these cards was a snap. I did them all with scraps that I have left from other projects. It seems to me that every card can be made from scraps since the canvas is so small.

The stamping didn't turn out to be mass produced because I was having so much time mixing and matching the colors and the stamps for a wide variety of effects. I really do love how every single wreath turned out. It makes me want to decorate my front door.

Today is the last day to buy two stamps set and get one free. You have until midnight tonight to shop on my website ... www.shellynemitz.ctmh.com. Another great promotion starts on July 1st. 

You-nique

I looooooooove this sentiment. We're all created as unique individuals. We should definitely stand up tall and enjoy being ourselves. There's a plan and a purpose and a place for every single person on Earth. No one exactly like you has ever existed before AND no one will come along in the future to be just like you. I'd even go so far to say that you were born in the right place at the right time.

I don't exactly love all of the girls in this stamp set. Don't get me wrong, they're adorable. BUT for some people even though they're just stamps they can make us feel like we're not "all that" because we aren't tall and skinny. I have to admit I had to add a bunch of imperfections to this card. It's part of the message. Even if the squares aren't all the same size and they don't line up, it's ok. I'm still gonna be happy to be me ... even dare to love who I am.

This set is called Fashionista. That's definitely not me, but the stamps fun. If I had nothing but time on my hands I could create a whole bunch of things with these lovely girls. Even the little "town" is cute.

Monogram

Lately I've been writing at least one card every day. You'll never know how it will change YOUR life to do something like that until you try it. Yes, it's selfish of me to sit down and write encouraging notes. It seems like I can't help but walk to the mailbox with a smile on MY face.

Since a lot of these notes go to the same place I try to send something different each time. Today I was feeling "simple monogram". So I literally used the paper that was closest to my Cricut and cut out the four larger pieces you see here. I glued it all together and added a sticky border. The only time consuming part was the moment when I thought maybe NOT simple and I started digging through embellishments. You can't believe the possibilities with ribbon.

In the end a few simple dots of liquid glass seemed to be all I needed. TADA!!

Such Productive FUN!!!

For the past few days I've been putting together some plans for a brand new scrapbook workshop ... we're using one paper pack to make 6 pages (3 layouts).  It's ultra efficient since you're doing just one step at a time using all the same papers.  So ... you cut, assemble & add photos at your leisure. You can embellish at almost any time. I'm loving the results!!

If you're in my area (Mpls/St. Paul) and you'd like to come check out "upcoming events" above. If you want to hostess something like this in your home contact me and I'll bring the party to you.

You can see one of the finished layouts above. Here are photos showing the progress. 

Here's another photo using the same layout, but a different paper pack. A third paper option is at the bottom of this post. Every paper works, depending on your taste : )

Once again ... same layouts ... two different papers.

The productive part is that I have 16 pages made as I prep for this event. Some have photos on them already and others are ready to go when the right pictures come up.

Here's some more productive fun ...

My workshop came together using these great layout ideas from Tresa Black http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com/. Her workshop makes 10 pages. I'm not quite ready to spring that on everyone yet. Here are some of her original designs ...

The Grand Finale ...

If you've been stopping by my blog recently you know that I've been cutting up my Dotty For You paper pack. Instead of reinventing the wheel I've been taking out some of my previous designs and making those again with this awesome new paper pack.

There's a celebration to end all celebrations around the corner ... Resurrection Sunday!!!  

(my favorite name for Easter)

It's time to sharpen my focus on this weekend and put my tools away for a few days. Instead of showing you a different card design every day here's what I've got all at once. Enjoy!! The photos on the left show the cards I originally made. All the way down the right you'll see cards made with Dotty For You. The majority of these will be donated to Operation Write Home.  Exciting!

Original 

Original

Original design

Original

Winning on Wednesday

Victory ... a new blog post three days in a row. I'm always working on something. It's mayhem everywhere you turn. Neatness in not my nature!!  In any case it makes me think ... "I can't take pictures of anything until I clean it all up". I'm getting over it. For today's post I actually just took pictures of a few things right where they were laying.

In case you haven't read it before - I loooooooooooove the Close To My Heart Exclusive Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge. For this project I decided to check out the flowers that were available on the cartridge. I couldn't pick my favorite one so I cut them all in several sizes. So many possibilities ... so many.

This month you can get the cartridge FREE ... did you read that FREE!!  Check it out on my website at www.ctmh.com/shellynemitz

It's so awesome to cut ALL of the card parts using my Cricut ... everything turns out straight AND consistent.

Thank You Winter Card Adventure

We've been making loads of cards at my house this winter. The last batch of 20 cards that I'm getting ready are Thank You notes.  Here's the first of 5 designs ...

Want to know more?  Everyone is invited. 

You can check out the Upcoming Events tab AND keep an eye on this blog for more details.

Kopy Kattin' ... Kinda

Can you believe that I'm here for the third day in a row with another card? Today there are no sketches involved ... but I did copy a friend. Look at my fun "girly" card below and check out her "boy" version by clicking here -->  http://scrappytherapy.blogspot.com

For those who can't be bothered with all the cutting ...

It's ok, but I choose fussy every time : ) Sometimes details are my biggest weakness.